Joining more than two dozen universities from around the country, the
university will commemorate the 150th anniversary of land-grant
universities.

Land-grant universities are a legacy of the Morrill Act of 1862, which
established new public institutions in each state through the grant of federal
lands.

These institutions—Maryland among them—taught agriculture, military tactics,
and the mechanic arts as well as classical studies, thus providing a broad
segment of the U.S. population with educational opportunities. This mission
continues today.

A display of images from the University Archives will highlight the
university’s agricultural history. Among them: Matthew Brady’s portrait of
Charles Benedict Calvert, the primary force behind the founding of the Maryland
Agricultural College, which was to become the University of Maryland; and
photographs of important developments in agricultural research at the university
in the 1920s and 1930s.